Kanye West Dropping Solo Album "Y3" Soon, Erick Sermon Claims

BYGabriel Bras Nevares2.3K Views
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LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 08: Recording artist Kanye West performs onstage during The 57th Annual GRAMMY Awards at the STAPLES Center on February 8, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Lester Cohen/WireImage/Getty Images)
The EPMD legend recalled visiting Ye and Ty Dolla $ign in Italy, and spoke to Bootleg Kev about the process and the dynamics of recording.

Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign didn't drop Vultures today (Friday, February 9), as many fans hoped and expected. However, even though that hype cycle isn't even done, it seems like a new one is starting right away. Moreover, we previously heard that the Chicago artists was working on both this collab album (or album series) and another solo project. During his recent appearance on The Bootleg Kev Podcast, EPMD legend Erick Sermon claimed that it's coming soon. He spoke on producing for the project, what the dynamics were like, and some brief thoughts on separating the art from the artist.

"I started on May 30 doing the first album," Erick Sermon said of Kanye West's next moves. "Then, after I went to Italy, Ty Dolla Sign was there. So they had put some thing called Vultures together. Even though I still made that project, that wasn't what I was working on with him. [I was working on] Y3, yes [his solo album]. I ended up going to Italy. When I got there, Ty had sung on one of my songs already. Then I ended up doing another record, too, when I got to Italy. So I was in between. Hopefully, when this is done, we can get back to Y3.

Erick Sermon Teases New Kanye West Solo Album Y3: Watch

"It's cr*zy," Erick Sermon remarked about Kanye West's Italy sessions. "Because we was in Sting's place. Yeah, so his villas was fantastic, you know? The vibe in the room... It's cr*zy how Ye, like... PA speakers. You don't care about the bleeding, you don't care about how loud, he just wants it to be loud. It doesn't matter. The two PAs and the two subs on both of them, and that's it. In every room! At the hotel, we had it; at the warehouse, we had it. We was in the Edition Hotel on the eighth floor. No guests, nobody said s**t. When I first talked to Ty, he started playing all Erick Sermon s**t. Because he was saying that my '95 album is what his brother put him onto. When I tell you he played six records and knew them all, it shocked the s**t out of me. Yeah, he's a great songwriter. He was mad nonchalant, stayed smoking.

"But again, I'm the old head inside the place, you know?" he concluded. "Again, I'm nine years older than Ye, too. Even thought it's me and him and the writers. Ye is a person that whatever people say is not what I experienced. Music is music. And that passion that you have as a producer, when you hear something dope, it's like, 'Yo!' Same s**t. And that's all it was about. You can't take nothing from his ear, the vibe, the rhyming, the context, all of it. So I don't know no other s**t. I just know what we was doing and how he felt about me. He said, 'Yo Erick, everybody in here. That person who's doing my wardrobe, the person who's building my building, the one who's doing my president campaign. These people over here, everybody here are geniuses. That's why you're here.'" For more on Erick Sermon and Kanye West, keep checking in with HNHH.

About The Author
Gabriel Bras Nevares is a staff writer for HotNewHipHop. He joined HNHH while completing his B.A. in Journalism & Mass Communication at The George Washington University in the summer of 2022. Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Gabriel treasures the crossover between his native reggaetón and hip-hop news coverage, such as his review for Bad Bunny’s hometown concert in 2024. But more specifically, he digs for the deeper side of hip-hop conversations, whether that’s the “death” of the genre in 2023, the lyrical and parasocial intricacies of the Kendrick Lamar and Drake battle, or the many moving parts of the Young Thug and YSL RICO case. Beyond engaging and breaking news coverage, Gabriel makes the most out of his concert obsessions, reviewing and recapping festivals like Rolling Loud Miami and Camp Flog Gnaw. He’s also developed a strong editorial voice through album reviews, think-pieces, and interviews with some of the genre’s brightest upstarts and most enduring obscured gems like Homeboy Sandman, Bktherula, Bas, and Devin Malik.
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